USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Ringel05]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

 

[Foxfyre]

It's Christmastime and all's right with the world (at least from my prospective). At 4:30 this afternoon, my Christmas vacation begins. It won't end until 8:00 Monday January 5, 2015.

All that time off! Wonderful!

I'll get all the gifts wrapped this weekend, do the usual housekeeping chores and cap it off by going to Heinz Field for the Steelers/Chiefs game Sunday morning.

I have been providing the family Christmas dinner since Pop passed away in 2008. I buy a ten pound prime rib roast and all the trimmings. My brother is the best cook in the family and he prepares everything to a tee. I buy the roast seven days before the big feast and dry age the thing in my refrigerator. By Christmas Eve morning, it looks like an old maroon handbag at the bottom of a bus depot lost and found box, but it is consistently moist and flavorful.

Christmas Eve is when the Nosmo King family has our celebration. We eat well then open our Christmas presents. Christmas Day is reserved to receive visitors and nosh on leftovers.

Back when I was a kid, our family did pretty much the same, except for the opening of the gifts. That was done Christmas morning. The Christmas of 1965 was memorable because that year I got a set of Lincoln Logs. An imaginative child could make anything from Lincoln Logs. The cylindrical canister showed a farmstead on the label, but that is just too pedestrian. I made an aircraft carrier.

That year my cousins Amy and Beth (Aunt Roxie had a thing for "Little Women") came to the Big House to show off their newly acquired collection of all things Barbie. Barbie and her Corvette, Barbie and her Dream House, Barbie and her kit of cosmetics. Who cares? Those two girlie girls had come to our house, me and my brother's house, to play with and gloat over their girlie toys.

Meanwhile, in the dining room the fleet commander was putting the final touches on his plan of attack. The air crew drank a ceremonial cup of sake, climbed into their cockpits and shouted Banzai! The fighters took flight first, followed by a torpedo squadron. The enemy planes rendezvoused by the breakfront and headed east into the living room and the rising sun.

The denizens of the sleepy Barbie village were gathered out in the open to enjoy a snack of sugar cookies and milk. The were unaware of the impending danger gathering in the skies over their heads.

The command was given. The air squadron climbed to an altitude of five feet above the Barbie complex, veered to the left and dove out of the glare of the sun. The planes dropped Lincoln Log bombs that were attached to the underside of the wings of their airplanes. They strafed the compound and met minimal resistance. Climbing back to altitude, the pilots could hear sheiks and cries coming from the devastated Barbie villagers. "Why?!? Oh! Look at our village! Damnable Japanese!"

Landing on the home carriers, the triumphant pilots laughed with the glee of the victorious! The commander readied his squadron for a follow up attack that would surely drive the Barbie invaders from his territory.

But the radio crackled with a dire warning. The Emperor would soon be on the scene. And indeed, there he was! A sudden tug on the neck of the commander's pajamas and a swift swat across the seat of his trousers and then exile. Exile to his headquarters in the bedroom for the duration of the war. What was victory had been snatched from him and bitter, lonely defeat was his plight, all for doing what had to be done in the interest of Christmas fun and masculine domination of his own homeland.

For reasons unnecessary to go into here, Christmas as a child was not something I remember all that fondly. But I have worked very hard to create good traditions and memories for my kids and that has been a good thing. And I love your stories.

 

[Foxfyre]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

Do they really work?

 

[Foxfyre]

I caption this one: BBD wins the day!!!

 

[Ringel05]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

Do they really work?

Like a charm. I can peel and core a bag of apples in an eigth of the time it takes to do it by hand. Also cut the processed sugar by using the sweetest apples you can find and only adding a quarter cup of sweetener to the mix, 3/4s of a cup is waaaaay too much. Even if you're using Granny Smiths or some other "sour" apple you only really need 1/2 a cup sweetener at most.
One of the ones I have was my moms, my dad had built a wooden "stand" for it so you wouldn't have to clamp it to the countertop or use the suction cup which may not always hold. He put rubber feet on it.

 

[Montrovant]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

Do they really work?

Like a charm. I can peel and core a bag of apples in an eigth of the time it takes to do it by hand. Also cut the processed sugar by using the sweetest apples you can find and only adding a quarter cup of sweetener to the mix, 3/4s of a cup is waaaaay too much. Even if you're using Granny Smiths or some other "sour" apple you only really need 1/2 a cup sweetener at most.
One of the ones I have was my moms, my dad had built a wooden "stand" for it so you wouldn't have to clamp it to the countertop or use the suction cup which may not always hold. He put rubber feet on it.

My mom had one of those the last time I visited her. I hardly ever eat apples, let alone feel the need for a large metal device to core and peel them.

 

[Ernie S.]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

Do they really work?

Like a charm. I can peel and core a bag of apples in an eigth of the time it takes to do it by hand. Also cut the processed sugar by using the sweetest apples you can find and only adding a quarter cup of sweetener to the mix, 3/4s of a cup is waaaaay too much. Even if you're using Granny Smiths or some other "sour" apple you only really need 1/2 a cup sweetener at most.
One of the ones I have was my moms, my dad had built a wooden "stand" for it so you wouldn't have to clamp it to the countertop or use the suction cup which may not always hold. He put rubber feet on it.

Mine is like the one in the picture. If I moisten the suction cup, it sits on the counter top until I'm done. I can peel, core and slice apples for 2 pies in 5 minutes tops. All the slices are the same thickness and there is no blood.

 

[Foxfyre]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

Do they really work?

Like a charm. I can peel and core a bag of apples in an eigth of the time it takes to do it by hand. Also cut the processed sugar by using the sweetest apples you can find and only adding a quarter cup of sweetener to the mix, 3/4s of a cup is waaaaay too much. Even if you're using Granny Smiths or some other "sour" apple you only really need 1/2 a cup sweetener at most.
One of the ones I have was my moms, my dad had built a wooden "stand" for it so you wouldn't have to clamp it to the countertop or use the suction cup which may not always hold. He put rubber feet on it.

Mine is like the one in the picture. If I moisten the suction cup, it sits on the counter top until I'm done. I can peel, core and slice apples for 2 pies in 5 minutes tops. All the slices are the same thickness and there is no blood.

Okay ya'll have sold me that it would be a nice gizmo to have. However, I pride myself on being able to peel an apple in one curly strip with my paring knife, and Hombre loves to eat the peelings. Not sure a mechanical peeler would be as satisfying.

 

[Foxfyre]

Check out this supermarket performance. We love love LOVE our little supermarket near our house and they provide us with over and above service, but this was special. And confirms that there is definitely Christmas spirit in Germany:

Ekeka Market Surprises Shoppers - FaithTap

 

[Ringel05]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

Do they really work?

Like a charm. I can peel and core a bag of apples in an eigth of the time it takes to do it by hand. Also cut the processed sugar by using the sweetest apples you can find and only adding a quarter cup of sweetener to the mix, 3/4s of a cup is waaaaay too much. Even if you're using Granny Smiths or some other "sour" apple you only really need 1/2 a cup sweetener at most.
One of the ones I have was my moms, my dad had built a wooden "stand" for it so you wouldn't have to clamp it to the countertop or use the suction cup which may not always hold. He put rubber feet on it.

Mine is like the one in the picture. If I moisten the suction cup, it sits on the counter top until I'm done. I can peel, core and slice apples for 2 pies in 5 minutes tops. All the slices are the same thickness and there is no blood.

Okay ya'll have sold me that it would be a nice gizmo to have. However, I pride myself on being able to peel an apple in one curly strip with my paring knife, and Hombre loves to eat the peelings. Not sure a mechanical peeler would be as satisfying.

 

[Foxfyre]

I seem to have somehow had my BBcode editor turned off. Anybody know how I can turn it back on?

 

[saveliberty]

Gotta buy him an apple peeler. Guys love tools.

I have 2.........

Do they really work?

Like a charm. I can peel and core a bag of apples in an eigth of the time it takes to do it by hand. Also cut the processed sugar by using the sweetest apples you can find and only adding a quarter cup of sweetener to the mix, 3/4s of a cup is waaaaay too much. Even if you're using Granny Smiths or some other "sour" apple you only really need 1/2 a cup sweetener at most.
One of the ones I have was my moms, my dad had built a wooden "stand" for it so you wouldn't have to clamp it to the countertop or use the suction cup which may not always hold. He put rubber feet on it.

Mine is like the one in the picture. If I moisten the suction cup, it sits on the counter top until I'm done. I can peel, core and slice apples for 2 pies in 5 minutes tops. All the slices are the same thickness and there is no blood.

Can I remove the handle and attach a power drill?

 

[blackhawk]

 

[Pogo]

I seem to have somehow had my BBcode editor turned off. Anybody know how I can turn it back on?

I don't even know what it does but up at the top right of a post-writing box (normally) there's an icon marked "use BB code editor". If I click that, then the look of the box changes and I get a line under the bottom left saying "use Rich Text editor". If I click that it goes back to normal.

HTH

Who's this "Rich Text" guy anyway? Damn elitist characters...

 

[saveliberty]

We may need a composite sketch of Rich, Foxfyre appears to be missing.

 

[Ringel05]

We may need a composite sketch of Rich, Foxfyre appears to be missing.

 

[Dajjal]

Whooo! Muslims are following me on twitter. I'm scared, ha, ha.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Good happy Saturday mornin, everyone, although it is gray and chilly here in Salt Lake.

We will get later in the day a heavy rain for about 24 hours on the valley floor and very heavy snow fall in the mountains, for which all the ski bunnys and boyz say "hoo ray".

 

[mdk]

Good morning folks. Happy Saturday! We're gearing up for our cookie exchange tomorrow. I've got the kitchen all set up for 16 dozen cookies. Cheers!

 

[gallantwarrior]

We may need a composite sketch of Rich, Foxfyre appears to be missing.

Sheesh! Some pussies will do anything if you throw enough money at them!